Prince Salman Bin Sultan named deputy defence minister

﻿The early August appointment of Prince Salman Bin Sultan Bin Abdelaziz as deputy defence minister left Saudi-watchers puzzled, coming as it did just a few months after Prince Fahd Bin Abdullah Bin Mohammed was given the position (GSN 945/1). A son of the late crown prince Sultan Bin Abdelaziz (GSN 911/1), Prince Salman is in his late thirties, and has a degree in military science from the King Abdulaziz Military Academy. His career has included an early 2000s stint at the Saudi embassy in Washington under his high-profile older brother Prince Bandar Bin Sultan. When he returned to the kingdom, he took up a post at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and then joined the National Security Council (NSC), also headed by Bandar, where, in August 2011, he was appointed assistant secretary-general for intelligence and security affairs.